Patriots Rout Texans to Move Within One Game of Houston in AFC

Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Tom Brady threw four touchdown
passes as the New England Patriots routed Houston 42-14 to move
within one game of the Texans in the American Football
Conference.

Aaron Hernandez scored two of six touchdowns last night for
the Patriots, who won 40-7 in 2006 on Houston’s only prior visit
to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

The Patriots extended their unbeaten streak in the National
Football League to seven games while ending the Texans’ run of
six wins. Houston is 11-2, while the Patriots and Denver are
10-3, with New England holding a tiebreaker over the Broncos for
second seed in the AFC. The Indianapolis Colts and Baltimore
Ravens have 9-4 marks.

“We rushed, we covered, we tackled,'' Patriots coach
Bill Belichick told reporters. ``I thought we were physical out
there and we played a solid football game.’’

Quarterback Brady completed New England’s opening drive
with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Hernandez. Houston’s next
possession ended with an interception on the Patriots’ 1-yard
line as Devin McCourty picked off a pass from Matt Schaub that
was intended for Kevin Walter in the end zone.

The Patriots took advantage as Brady found Brandon Lloyd on
a 37-yard play for a touchdown before hooking up with Hernandez
again from four yards to make it three touchdowns on as many
drives for the home team.

Houston then stopped New England from gaining a first down
on its next three possessions to end the half trailing 21-0. It
was the first time this season that the Texans, who began the
game with the second-most points per game in the league after
the Patriots, failed to score in the first half.

Stallworth Scores

On their 12th play of the second half, Brady threw a long
pass to Donte’ Stallworth, who sprinted about 30 yards for a 63-yard score. The Patriots cut 32-year-old Stallworth on Aug. 27
and re-signed him Dec. 3, a day after Julian Edelman suffered a
season-ending foot fracture against the Miami Dolphins.

Less than four minutes later, Houston running back Arian
Foster scored from the 1 for his league-best 14th rushing
touchdown of the season. He’s also caught two scoring passes.

New England’s next score came 45 seconds into the fourth
quarter. Brady tossed the ball to Danny Woodhead, who dodged two
tacklers before J.J. Watt forced a fumble, only for the ball to
bounce into the end zone, where it was recovered by Lloyd for
the touchdown.

Running back Stevan Ridley got the last touchdown of the
night for New England with a weaving 14-yard dash with 7:23 to
play to make it 42-7. Ridley is tied with injured tight end Rob
Gronkowski with a team-high 10 touchdowns this season.

Brady, who left the game with 5:09 to play in the fourth
quarter, completed 21 of 35 passes for 296 yards.

His replacement, Ryan Mallett, was intercepted on his fifth
play and Houston backup quarterback T.J. Yates converted the
error into a touchdown on a 1-yard run to complete the scoring.